“Luke.” I pulled on the back of his shirt, stopping him.He turned to look at me, no tears or sadness in his eyes, just a resigned acceptance. I burrowed into him, wrapping my arms around his middle, squeezing him tightly. His arms came around my shoulders and pulled me closer as he leaned his cheek on the top of my head. The clean scent of his laundry detergent surrounded me, his heart beating strong and steadily against my ear.
“Yeah. That was a blow, not going to lie. That should be my baby she’s carrying, not some other dude’s.”
“Are you sure it’s not? What if—”
“Positive,” he interrupted me. “I’m positive.”
“I’m so sorry, Luke. You don’t deserve that,” I told him.
Juliet was a fool. She had the best man in the world, and she threw it in the trash. She didn’t deserve him. She never had. Her ice-cold heart was poisoning Luke’s kind soul every day.
His hand brushed through the hair by my ear, his chest expanding with his breath. I pulled back, and Luke’s arm tightened for just a moment, keeping me in place, before he let his hands drop.
Now that Luke had opened up about what was on his mind, the tension between us disappeared. Instantly, it was like we were back to our easy friendship. Luke and I walked the length of the woods, the beach, and back again for a couple of hours. Every place that evidence was collected, Luke stopped and recited what they found and what it meant.
“Footprints were found here.” Luke pointed to the marshy land between the beach and Ryan’s house. “Ryan Redmond’s size, the treads matching up with sneakers collected at his house.”
“This is where we found the knife that was used in themurder. No prints left on the weapon,” he said aloud. “Ryan Redmond was seen with a knife matching the description a few months before the murder.”
“A mostly smoked cigarette was left right here. Right by her body. It had been used on her body at some point during the murder. Forensic examination came back inconclusive, but Ryan had that same brand in his possession.”
We stopped at a downed log. A deep feeling of sadness weighed in my belly. After a moment of silence, Luke continued his assessment. “Alana’s body was found here. Traces of Ryan Redmond’s DNA found on her clothing and… inside of her.”
Ryan claimed that it was consensual. The good girl falls for the bad boy and all that. She was sixteen to his nineteen.
“Alright. Let’s get out of here. I don’t think any epiphanies are coming. This case is solid. We have the right guy.” Luke was talking more to himself than to me, but I assured him anyway.
“You’re a great cop, Luke. You followed the evidence and went where it led you.”
“Thanks, Letty.” He threw his arm around my shoulder on the way back to his SUV. He had to back out the length of the gravel drive since it was too tight to turn around, his hand gripping the headrest of my seat as he turned behind him to see.
“You never told me about your date last night,” he said on the drive back.
I instantly recalled seeing Captain and Matt at the restaurant. With everything else, it had completely slipped my mind. It seemed so silly now, but I filled Luke in on what I had seen.
“It just struck me as odd. Captain and Matt at Millie’stogether. Have they ever seemed close?”
“No. I actually get the impression that Captain’s not a huge Monroe fan.”
“It wasn’t just that they were having dinner. It felt shady. When they caught my eye, there was no friendly wave—they shifted in their seats and avoided eye contact.”
“What were you wearing?”
“What?” I squealed.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” he laughed at himself, hearing the question back. “I just meant… I don’t even know what I meant. I was just trying to picture the scene.”
“Well, I had on a strappy black slip dress and a pair of heeled sandals. My hair was pinned half-up, half-down, so the curls wouldn’t be in my face all night.”
Luke’s jaw tensed, his chest rising and falling with his heavy breaths. “And he took you to Millie’s? Looking like that?” His voice was low.
“I didn’t know that’s where we were going when I got dressed. But it was fine. You know me. Pizza and a beer is my favorite dinner.” I smiled.
“I hope he told you how beautiful you looked.”
How did we even start talking about my date? I only wanted to tell him about seeing the Captain and Matt out to dinner together and their weird behavior.
Oh, that’s right. When he asked me what I was wearing, like that was a normal question.
